Dexter police respond to complaint of man with ax

DEXTER, Maine — A 33-year-old Dexter man was taken to a Bangor hospital Tuesday for an evaluation after he went into a bedroom, nailed the door shut and chopped the room up with an ax, police said.

Dexter police were called to the Main Street apartment at about 2:30 p.m. when the man’s wife reported her concerns.

The man had not threatened anyone but was in crisis, according to police Sgt. Kevin Wintle. The wife reported that her husband had gone into a bedroom and taken some medication. She said he had an ax with him and had nailed the door shut.

When police arrived at the scene, the officers could hear the man smashing furniture in the bedroom, Wintle said.

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Wintle said he talked with the man and persuaded him to toss the ax out the first-floor bedroom window and then coaxed him outside through the window. The man went willingly with Wintle and Cpl. Alan Grinnell to Eastern Maine Medical Center.

Assisting Wintle and Grinnell at the scene were Dexter police Officer Dana Gatcomb and deputies from the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department.